Brock Online Notes

Cattle futures fell early Friday on a rumor that a Texas cow was being tested for mad cow disease, but a state official said it was untrue.

"It is strictly a rumor. There is no truth to it," said Beverly Boyd, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Agriculture. "The packing plant that supposedly the downer cow was from said that no carcasses are being held for tests of any kind," Boyd told Reuters News Service.

The USDA said there was no reason to believe that a specific animal had been found with the disease.

"We test animals all the time. We test high risk animals, animals that fit the need for our surveillance program," said USDA spokeswoman Alisa Harrison. "We are trying to determine what exactly prompted this rumor out of Texas."

Editors note: Richard Brock, The Corn and Soybean Digest's Marketing Editor, is president of Brock Associates, a farm market advisory firm, and publisher of The Brock Report.